Office  Organization 

and 


n  y- 


4  ,4 


A  LECTURE 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  OFFICERS  OF 
THE  QUARTERMASTER  RESERVE  CORPS 
ON  APRIL  17,  1917 


V 


By 

CAPT.  CHARLES  P.  DALY 

QUARTERMASTER  CORPS 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1917 


J)11o 


GEN.  SHARPE’S  INTRODUCTION. 


Officers  of  the  Reserve  Corps: 

This  is  the  second  of  our  series  of  lectures,  and  just  now  I 
want  to  say  that  the  matter  is  under  discussion  of  having  the 
lectures  once  a  week  instead  of  once  every  two  weeks,  and  we 
hope  to  arrive  at  a  definite  conclusion  about  that,  and  you  will 
all  be  notified  later. 

Two  weeks  ago  I  outlined  in  a  very  brief  way  the  general 
duties  of  the  Quartermaster  Corps.  As  you,  of  course,  all 
realize,  nothing  can  be  accomplished  in  this  world  wdthout  or¬ 
ganization.  That  is  the  essential  feature  which  distinguishes 
an  army  from  a  mob,  and  by  means  of  organization  in  an  army 
you  are  able  to  secure  discipline  and  effect  the  purpose  for  which 
the  army  is  created.  It  is  the  most  essential  feature  of  all 
enterprises.  Even  with  a  good  and  able  administrator,  nothing 
can  be  accomplished  of  any  permanent  good  without  a  proper 
organization.  The  subject  of  the  address  this  evening  is  “  The 
organization  of  the  office  of  the  Quartermaster  General  and  the 
correspondence  in  connection  with  the  transaction  of  business 
therein,’5  and  I  want  to  introduce  to  you  Capt.  Daly,  who  has 
largely  been  instrumental  in  effecting  the  organization  of  the 
office,  and  who  will  describe  to  you  the  present  organization, 
and  will  indicate  to  you  how  that  organization  is  carried  out 
in  our  different  depots  and  in  the  field  so  that  there  is  a  co¬ 
ordination  all  the  way  through  which  facilitates  the  transaction 
of  the  business.  Officers  of  the  Reserve  Corps,  I  wish  to  intro¬ 
duce  Capt.  Daly. 


96657—17 


# 


3 


♦ 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION  AND  CORRE¬ 
SPONDENCE  OF  THE  ARMY. 


Officers: 

The  subject  to-night  is  “  Office  organization  and  correspond¬ 
ence  in  the  Army.”  We  will  first  deal  with  office  organization. 
It  might  be  well  to  first  get  into  our  minds  what  organization 
means.  Our  definition  of  organization,  in  so  far  as  it  pertains 
to  the  Quartermaster  Corps  in  its  offices  and  other  activities, 
is  a  systematic  union  of  individuals  in  a  body,  whose  officers, 
agents,  and  members  work  together  for  a  common  end.  That 
is  our  conception  of  organization.  Based  on  that  definition,  the 
organization  of  the  Quartermaster  General’s  Office  and  its  aux¬ 
iliary  offices,  the  offices  at  posts,  depots,  and  in  the  field  are 
based.  The  parent  office  is  organized  into  five  great  divisions, 
the  division  being  the  principal  unit  of  the  office.  The  divisions 
are :  The  administrative  division,  the  finance  and  accounting  divi¬ 
sion,  the  supplies  division,  the  construction  and  repair  division, 
and  the  transportation  division.  Each  of  these  divisions  are 
divided  into  branches,  each  branch  being  allotted  its  particular 
part  of  the  work  of  the  office.  The  administrative  division  is 
the  controlling  division  of  the  office.  The  administrative  divi¬ 
sion  is  the  Quartermaster  General’s  division;  in  other  words, 
it  is  the  members  of  the  administrative  division  who  are  the 
agents  of  the  Quartermaster  General  in  coordinating  the  work 
of  the  office,  in  governing  the  work  of  the  other  divisions  of 
the  office  and  the  branches  of  those  divisions.  The  branches 
of  the  administrative  division  consist  of : 

First.  The  administrative  branch.  The  administrative  branch, 
as  its  name  indicates,  is  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Quartermaster 
General,  or  is  the  agency  through  which  he  operates  directly 
with  other  branches  and  divisions.  The  mail  and  record 
branch,  the  personnel  branch,  the  office  personnel  and  miscel¬ 
laneous  branch,  the  national  cemeteries  branch,  the  claims 
branch,  and  the  estimates  branch. 

The  finance  and  accounting  division  is  made  up  of  the  appor¬ 
tionments  branch,  deposits  and  allotments  branch,  officers’  money 
accounts,  contracts,  cost  keeping,  subsistence  returns,  property 
accounts,  and  finance  branches. 


5 


6 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 


The  construction  and  repair  division  is  made  up  of  the  con¬ 
struction  branch,  miscellaneous  branch,  mechanical  branch,  res¬ 
ervation  branch,  and  drafting  branch. 

Transportation  division  is  made  up  of  the  miscellaneous 
branch,  land  transportation,  water  transportation,  and  remount. 

The  backbone  of  any  office  or  the  index  to  the  efficiency  of 
any  office  and  of  every  office  is  its  records ;  I  mean,  particularly 
the  index  to  the  efficiency  of  the  office  is  indicated  by  the  effi¬ 
ciency  of  its  records.  If  in  an  organization  you  devote  all  your 
energy  toward  the  building  up  of  the  activities  of  all  the  factors 
or  units  entering  into  the  organization  and  neglect  your  records, 
your  organization  is  far  from  efficient.  If  you  devote  your 
energies  toward  making  those  records  such  that  they  are  of  easy 
access  and  are  a  complete  and  true  record  of  the  activities  of 
the  office,  it  will  naturally  follow’  that*  your  office  is  efficient 
throughout.  The  mail  and  record  branch  of  the  administrative 
division,  of  vdiich  I  have  spoken  to  you,  must  not  be  taken  as 
being  the  record  division  of  the  Quartermaster  General’s  Office. 
In  the  mail  and  record  branch  of  the  office  is  received  all  of 
the  mail  that  comes  into  the  office.  It  is  given  the  name  of 
record  for  the  reason  that  the  old  files  are  kept  there,  but  each 
division  of  the  office  conducts  its  own  record,  and  the  efficiency 
of  the  division  is  generally  indicated  by  the  efficiency  of  its 
records. 

In  organizing  an  office  the  first  thought  of  the  organizer  and 
of  those  that  are  assisting  him  must  be  a  coordination  of  the 
work.  Their  aim  must  be  to  effect  an  organization  that  will 
produce  results,  that  will  produce  an  output  equal  to  the  amount 
of  business  coming  in  without  a  duplication,  or  with  as  little 
duplication  as  possible — it  isn’t  possible  to  always  avoid  dupli¬ 
cation  in  its  entirety,  but  it  is  possible  to  reduce  it  to  a  mini*.* 
mum — that  should  be  the  first  thought  of  the  officer  in  organizing 
an  office.  To  so  organize  his  office  as  to  take  care  of  all  of  the 
lines  of  activity  that  enter  into  the  duties  thereof  without 
duplicating  the  work.  When  you  duplicate,  of  course,  you  simply 
add  to  your  troubles  and  labor  and  to  the  volume  of  business. 

Consideration  must  be  given  to  the  amount  of  w’ork  to  be 
handled.  In  a  smaller  office  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  have 
the  five  divisions  that  are  enumerated  as  making  up  the  Quarter¬ 
master  General’s  Office.  You  wTould  establish  the  principle  of 
organization  so  that  you  could  expand  as  your  business  grewT, 
but  you  need  not  organize  your  office  into  five  divisions.  The 
organization  for  a  post  is  in  principle  the  same  as  for  the 
Quartermaster  General’s  Office — five  divisions — writh  as  many 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 


7 


branches  as  are  necessary  for  each  division,  depending  upon  the 
volume  of  the  work,  but  it  isn’t  necessary  to  organize  your  five 
divisions  as  separate  divisions.  If  the  office  is  small,  the  organ¬ 
ization  should  be  one  that  the  executive  himself  can  handle 
without  entering  into  the  details,  so  that  in  the  organization 
of  a  smaller  office  the  administration  and  finance  might  be 
combined,  and  generally  would  be  combined.  Your  transporta¬ 
tion  division,  or  probably  called  a  branch  at  a  post,  would  be 
a  unit  in  itself,  as  would  be  your  supplies,  so  that  ordinarily 
at  a  post  even  as  large  as  a  regimental  post  you  would  not  have 
actually  more  than  three  divisions  in  an  office  and  probably  no 
branches,  depending  altogether  upon  circumstances,  and  upon  the 
judgment  of  the  officer. 

The  principle  of  organization  as  stated  here  for  the  Quarter¬ 
master  General’s  Office  is  the  same  throughout  all  the  offices 
of  the  Quartermaster  Corps.  You  will  find  the  same  organiza¬ 
tion  based  upon  the  same  principle,  the  same  lines,  in  the 
smaller  offices — the  department  headquarters,  depot  or  post, 
and  possibly  in  a  recruiting  station  and  in  the  camp. 

In  working  out  an  organization  the  executive  should  place 
in  charge  of  the  various  principal  activities  men  of  experience, 
men  who  are  familiar  with  the  duties  of  the  corps.  He  should 
always  endeavor  to  have  that  force  with  him ;  that  is,  to  have 
the  good  will  and  sympathy  of  the  force,  for  if  you  have  not 
the  force  with  you,  you  don’t  have  efficiency.  It  should  be  the 
aim  of  every  officer  of  the  Reserve  Corps  who  may  be  called 
upon  to  handle  these  offices  to  always  remember  that  he,  as 
well  as  his  subordinates,  are  all  working  toward  the  same  end 
and  object — Uncle  Sam — that  the  efficiency  of  his  office  does 
not  depend  upon  him  alone — he  can’t  make  it  efficient  alone — 
he  must  have  the  good  will  and  cooperation  of  his  assistants. 
He  should  always  have  that  in  mind,  else  his  office  will  not 
be  as  efficient  as  it  might  be,  or  as  it  should  be.  There  are  two 
exceptions  to  the  assignments  of  branches  to  divisions.  One  is 
in  the  organization  of  a  depot  office  having  settlement  of  trans¬ 
portation  accounts.  That  office  has  an  additional  branch  desig¬ 
nated  as  transportation  accounts  or  settlement  of  transport- 
tion  accounts.  The  other  exception  is  the  depot  quartermaster’s 
office  having  charge  of  transports.  They  have  what  is  called 
the  transport  branch.  We  have  that  in  our  office,  and  only  in 
the  Quartermaster  General’s  Office  and  the  office  of  a  depot 
handling  transports  do  you  find  a  transport  branch.  It  doesn’t 
obtain  at  posts. 


8  OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 

It  is  probably  well  to  confine  myself  to  the  operation  of  the 
Quartermaster  General’s  Office,  and  if  you  will  bear  in  mind 
the  organization  of  that  office  and  apply  it  to  your  duties  in 
the  field  you  will  probably  get  by  without  much  difficulty.  The 
Quartermaster  General’s  Office  handles  a  great  volume  of  busi¬ 
ness.  It  handles  in  finance  in  normal  times  probably  80  per 
cent  of  the  money  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  Army. 
It  embraces  every  activity  known  to  the  commercial  world.  I 
don’t  think  there  are  any  exceptions.  It  builds  ships  and 
operates  ships ;  it  operates  and  supplies  railroads,  manufactures 
clothing,  manufactures  harness,  manufactures  wagons;  it  is  a 
wholesaler,  buys  goods  and  sells  them,  dispenses  them  around 
to  the  posts — goods  of  every  character,  food,  forage,  etc.  Every 
activity  known  to  the  commercial  world  you  will  find  carried 
on  in  the  Quartermaster  Corps.  Having  that  in  mind,  you  must 
realize  that  the  Quartermaster  Corps  is  a  serious  proposition. 
It  isn’t  something  to  be  thought  of  in  a  moment  and  considered 
as  something  to  be  played  with,  and  the  man  that  comes  into 
the  Quartermaster  Corps  as  an  officer,  also  as  a  civilian,  as¬ 
sumes  a  great  responsibility ;  the  officer  in  particular  has  a  great 
responsibility. 

To  carry  on  these  activities  there  must  be  organization.  With¬ 
out  organization  the  result  is  chaos,  confusion,  and  long  years 
of  trouble  for  the  officer  responsible.  With  organization,  and 
proper  organization,  while  the  work  is  hard,  the  quartermaster 
will  find  when  he  is  relieved  of  those  duties  that  he  is  entirely 
through  with  them  and  with  the  Quartermaster  General;  that 
he  will  have  no  trouble  with  the  Treasury.  I  refer  to  the  man 
having  effected  a  good  organization — that  studies  his  work  and 
knows  his  work.  So  in  the  creating  of  an  office  in  the  field  your 
first  thought  must  be  to  coordinate  your  work,  to  avoid  dupli¬ 
cation,  to  instill  into  the  minds  of  your  co-workers  good  fellow¬ 
ship,  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  Government,  and  to  serve 
faithfully  and  well  the  Quartermaster  Corps. 

The  second  subject  is  correspondence  in  the  Army.  I  may 
get  back  to  organization  again.  The  two  go  together,  and  there 
are  certain  things  that  I  will  probably  have  to  go  back  over. 
I  am  not  going  to  attempt  to  give  you  the  details  of  correspond¬ 
ence.  You  will  get  that  in  the  Army  Regulations  and  the  Quar¬ 
termaster’s  Manual.  The  Army  Regulations  are  quite  clear  on 
the  subject  and  need  no  interpretation.  The  Quartermaster’s 
Manual  is  quite  clear  on  the  subject,  but  I  propose  to  give  you 
a  little  of  the  unwritten  law — for  want  of  a  better  term — 
things  that  you  don’t  find  in  books. 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 


9 


In  military  correspondence  the  ceremonial  address  “  Sir  ”  and 
salutations  are  all  omitted.  The  letter  is  from  the  writer  to 
the  person  addressed,  and  the  subject  is  stated.  The  making 
up  of  the  letter  is  one  of  the  things  that  ought  to  receive  con¬ 
sideration.  The  style  of  a  letter  coming  out  of  an  office  is,  in 
addition  to  the  record,  an  index  to  the  efficiency  of  the  office.  A 
letter  should  never  be  sent  out  that  runs  clear  across  the  page 
from  margin  to  margin.  A  letter  of  that  character  does  not 
attract  attention.  It  takes  time  to  read  it  and  it  doesn’t  appeal 
to  the  reader.  It  saves  paper,  but  we  might  waste  a  little  paper 
to  present  a  letter  to  an  individual  that  will  attract  attention  and 
receive  consideration.  The  preferred  letter  provides  a  margin 
an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  quarter  on  each  side,  putting  the  subject 
matter  in  a  compact  body  near  the  center  and  so  arranging  the 
typewriting  as  to  leave  the  right-hand  margin  as  nearly  in  a 
line  as  possible,  and  properly  paragraphed  without  numbering. 
A  letter  of  that  character,  without  erasures,  a  clean  sheet  with¬ 
out  thumb  marks,  indicates  a  careful  and  efficient  office. 

Another  thing  to  be  avoided  is  letting  your  temper  run  away 
with  you  in  a  letter.  Frequently  we  have  correspondence  with 
people  whom  it  is  hard  to  make  understand  the  matter  we 
are  driving  at,  and  we  become  “  peeved  ”  or  vexed  and  we  express 
our  peevishness  in  a  reply  to  him.  Avoid  that  particularly  if 
you  are  writing  to  a  subordinate — I  don’t  think  you  would  do 
it  to  a  superior — it  isn’t  necessary.  You  will  only  aggravate 
him  and  keep  the  ball  rolling. 

Don’t  devote  your  time  to  long-winded  arguments  in  a  letter. 
Make  your  letters  short,  clear,  and  understandable.  If  you 
want  to  say  “  no,”  say  it — NO.  But  don’t  write  a  half  dozen 
lines  to  tell  a  man  that  you  want  to  say  “  no  ” — just  say  “  no  ” 
and  he  will  understand  that  it  is  “  no,”  wherein  if  you  attempt 
to  analyze  the  word  and  tell  him  how  you  reached  it  he  may 
come  back  again ;  that  is  not  correspondence — simply  argument. 

Now,  for  the  moment,  we  will  deal  with  the  filing  system.  I  have 
grown  up,  we  will  say  for  the  purposes  of  this  talk,  with  several 
filing  systems.  When  I  began  business  in  the  Quartermaster’s 
Department  twenty-eight  years  ago  we  kept  our  records  in  a 
book.  We  devoted  a  great  deal  of  our  time  each  day  to  writing 
out  and  copying  in  longhand  letters  in  books,  one  after  another, 
day  after  day,  and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  Those  books  con¬ 
tained  all  the  way  from  600  to  700  pages.  It  was  the  best  and 
only  known  system  at  that  time,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  the  Quarter¬ 
master’s  Department.  If  a  letter  came  in  on  the  subject  of  oats 
in  January,  1889,  and  it  was  referred  to  in  January,  1900,  you 


10  OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 

found  the  letter  by  taking  a  book  and  thumbing  back  in  the 
pages  until  you  came  to  the  letter  about  oats.  That  was  the 
process  of  locating  it.  That  work  in  time  showed  its  faults  and 
weaknesses,  and  the  card  system  came  out  in  about  1895.  That 
system  was  a  vast  improvement  over  the  old  book  system,  not  so 
much  because  of  the  cards  as  because  of  the  facility  in  locating 
the  record.  That  in  time  became  cumbersome,  the  volume  of  the 
index  outgrowing  the  volume  of  the  record.  It  became  necessary 
to  make,  where  three  indexes  sufficed  in  the  early  days  of  the  sys¬ 
tem,  10,  12,  and  15  indexes  in  the  latter  days  of  the  system.  It, 
however,  provided  a  record  that  could  be  reached  and  it  provided 
a  very  good  record,  but  required  a  great  force  to  operate  it.  As 
the  volume  of  the  record  of  the  index  grew,  so  did  the  volume  of 
the  force  grow,  until,  in  the  minds  of  the  thinking  men  in  the 
department,  it  became  apparent  that  the  system  was  cumber¬ 
some,  and  a  study  was  made  of  the  vertical  file  system  and  sub¬ 
jective  classification.  That  system  the  Quartermaster  General 
was  the  first  to  introduce  in  his  office.  After  a  careful  study  of 
the  system  the  War  Department  created  a  board,  and  the  board 
worked  out  an  index  but  did  not  order  the  installation  of  the 
system.  It  left  it  with  the  bureaus,  and  the  Quartermaster 
General  took  it  up  and  installed  it  in  his  office  in,  I  think,  1914. 

The  results  of  that  system  in  the  Quartermaster  General’s 
Office  were  an  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  the  office,  an  increase 
of  at  least,  in  the  first  years  of  its  operation,  sixty  per  cent  and 
later  probably  as  high  as  eighty  per  cent.  Under  the  old  system 
it  required  forty-six  operators  to  conduct  the  record  system  of 
the  office,  and  one-third  of  the  time  of  those  in  the  office  was  con¬ 
sumed  in  traveling  from  the  office  to  the  record  room  and  back 
searching  for  records.  It  delayed  getting  out  the  mail  of  the 
office.  To  handle  correspondence  it  was  necessary  to  get  the 
previous  records,  and  that  took  time.  The  installation  of  the  new 
system  placed  the  record  in  a  branch — placed  it  under  a  subjec¬ 
tive  classification  so  that  it  could  be  found  without  difficulty  and 
without  unnecessary  indexing,  because  the  classification  or  the 
book  published  by  the  War  Department  was  the  index.  The 
system  is  of  such  flexibility  that  it  can  be  extended  indefinitely, 
but  it  requires  intelligence  to  handle  it.  The  system  is  readily 
adaptable  to  any  condition.  I  mention  this  system  because 
some  of  you  may  have  field  work,  and  one  of  the  great  weak¬ 
nesses  in  the  field  is  want  of  the  proper  record,  due,  it  is  claimed, 
to  the  impracticability  of  keeping  good  records  because  of  im¬ 
proper  facilities ;  but  I  do  not  agree  with  that  claim.  The  ver¬ 
tical  file  system,  in  my  judgment,  under  the  subjective  classifi- 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 


11 


cation,  is  an  ideal  field  file  system.  It  isn’t  necessary  to  carry 
with  you  a  book  containing  the  War  Department  classification, 
but  you  provide  your  own  classification  and  file  your  papers  by 
the  subjects  classified,  and  you  will  find  in  your  work  in  the  field 
that  your  subjects  are  limited.  If  you  are  dealing  with  trans¬ 
portation,  keep  a  jacket  or  folder  for  transportation,  and  in 
chronological  order  file  in  that  jacket  everything  that  has  to  do 
with  transportation.  You  have  only  one  place  to  go  then  for 
the  transportation  record.  The  same  way  with  other  subjects 
that  come  up,  and,  as  stated,  the  subjects  that  will  come  up  in 
an  office  in  the  field  are  limited.  But  you  must  not  have  in 
mind  that  the  record  will  take  care  of  itself.  It  needs  your 
assistance.  You  should  give  it  the  same  careful  attention  that 
you  are  bound  to  give  to  other  duties.  Don’t  neglect  it.  That 
is  one  of  the  faults  in  Government  offices.  That  has  been  my 
experience. 

The  record  room  in  the  Government  offices  has  always  been 
considered,  and  is  yet  in  a  great  many  offices — it  isn’t  so  in 
ours  now,  because  we  haven’t  any  separate  record  room — but 
it  has  always  been  considered  a  place  to  place  the  derelicts,  or 
those  that  have  outlived  their  usefulness  in  other  activities  of 
the  office.  If  it  were  found  that  a  man  in  the  personnel  branch 
was  no  good,  he  was  sent  to  the  record  branch,  a  wrong  system. 
Your  record  system  is  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  office,  and  in 
the  keeping  of  your  records  you  must  use  the  very  best  talent 
in  the  office.  When  I  go  into  an  office  the  first  thing  that  I 
ask  is  to  look  at  the  records,  and  from  the  condition  of  the 
records  I  judge  the  condition  of  the  office.  I  have  inspected 
a  great  number  of  offices  in  the  last  six  or  seven  years  and 
have  never  found  myself  mistaken;  if  I  found  a  poor  record  I 
found  a  positively  poor  office;  if  I  found  a  good  record  I  found 
a  fairly  good  office;  if  I  found  an  excellent  record  I  found  an 
efficient  office. 

Getting  back  to  organization  for  a  moment,  in  effecting  the 
organization  of  a  quartermaster’s  office  in  the  field — in  dealing 
with  the  camp!1 — the  quartermaster  should  have  with  him  or 
arrange  to  have  with  him  a  good  record  clerk,  one  familiar 
with  records,  record  systems,  and  correspondence ;  a  good 
transportation  clerk,  and  a  good  supplies  clerk.  That  is  for 
a  camp  of  a  regiment — regimental  camp.  That  is  the  least 
that  he  should  have.  There  is  one  other  that  I  have  overlooked, 
the  finance  clerk.  These  make  up  the  skeleton  force  of  the 
office.  On  that  skeleton  he  builds  and  expands  as  the  activities 
of  his  office  grow  until  he  gets  his  office  into  proper  condition. 


12 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY. 


The  addition  of  the  force  to  extend  the  office  to  its  full  activi¬ 
ties  are,  of  course,  men  that  you  pick  up  here  and  there,  tem¬ 
porary  men,  but  with  the  quartermaster  having  a  knowledge  of 
the  work  of  the  department  and  with  the  four  trained  men  I  have 
mentioned  organize  the  branches  accordingly :  Your  mail  and 
record  as  administrative,  your  transportation,  your  finance  and 
supplies.  He  will  in  a  short  time,  by  devoting  his  attention  to 
the  office,  build  up  an  organization.  Keep  his  eye  on  the  weak 
spots,  cast  out  the  weak  men  and  put  in  some  one  better; 
don’t  quibble  with  him,  but  get  some  one  to  take  his  place.  He 
will  in  a  short  time  have  built  up  an  office  organization  follow¬ 
ing  the  outline  I  have  given  for  the  Quartermaster  General’s 
office  that  will  produce  proper  results,  that  will  give  him  a 
fairly  efficient  working  force.  In  the  conduct  of  his  office  he 
should  make  every  effort  to  avoid  a  duplication  of  the  work, 
coordinate  the  work  of  all  of  the  branches,  centering  all  in 
the  administrative  division,  through  which  he  controls  the  whole 
organization.  There  will  probably  be  some  variations  from 
that  under  certain  conditions  and  in  certain  camps,  but  in  fol¬ 
lowing  that  principle  and  effecting  an  organization  along  that 
line  the  quartermaster  will  find  himself  relieved  a  little  later 
of  many  difficulties. 

Now,  getting  back  again  to  correspondence.  The  Quarter¬ 
master’s  Manual  has  not  yet  been  published.  It  will  be  out,  I 
learn,  in  perhaps  a  week  or  ten  days.  It  may  be  possible  for 
officers  of  the  Quartermaster  Reserve  Corps  to  get  copies — 
probably  will  be  possible.  Correspondence  in  the  Quartermas¬ 
ter’s  Manual  begins  at  paragraph  390.  I  want  to  suggest  that 
that  be  given  the  most  careful  study.  I  don’t  mean  to  say  that 
I  want  you  to  neglect  other  parts  of  the  manual  and  devote 
all  of  your  time  to  correspondence ;  you  should  give  the  manual, 
careful  study  throughout,  but  give  correspondence  particular 
study  and  give  organization  careful  consideration.  You  will 
find  organization  begin  with  paragraph  281.  Now,  while  I  am 
on  this  subject  I  want  to  say  that  you  will  find  the  Quarter¬ 
master  Corps  and  its  duties  most  interesting.  The  duties  of 
the  Quartermaster  and  the  Quartermaster  Corps  are  such  that 
will  require  the  full  attention  and  the  active  energetic  work 
of  every  man  assigned  to  duty  in  the  corps.  He  should  have  as 
his  objective  always  bettering,  always  elevating  and  increasing 
the  efficiency  of  the  Quartermaster  Corps. 

Those  who  are  assigned  to  the  Quartermaster  Corps  are  a 
part  of  its  organization.  It  isn’t  the  Quartermaster  General 
that  makes  the  Quartermaster  Corps  a  success — he  can’t  do  it 


OFFICE  ORGANIZATION,  ETC.,  OF  THE  ARMY.  13 

alone — and  it  isn’t  the  assistants  in  his  office  with  him  that 
makes  it  a  success ;  it  is  the  hearty  cooperation  and  earnest 
activity  of  the  quartermasters  in  the  field  and  subordinates 
that  will  make  the  Quartermaster  Corps  a  success.  Forget  your 
personal  feelings.  Forget  your  likes  and  dislikes  as  to  the  rules 
that  may  be  issued  by  the  Quartermaster  General — they  are 
issued  for  a  purpose.  There  is  a  reason  for  every  rule  given 
by  the  Quartermaster  General.  Carry  out  the  rule.  We  have 
some  men  in  the  Quartermaster  Corps — good  men — who  when 
they  get  an  order  or  circular  that  contains  instructions  as  to 
the  duties  of  the  Quartermaster  Corps  devote  their  best  energy, 
their  time,  and  their  thought  to  finding  a  way  to  get  around 
those  instructions.  If  those  same  men  would  devote  that  same 
time  and  thought  to  carrying  out  the  instructions,  their  trouble 
would  be  less  and  our  efficiency  would  increase.  So  I  want  to 
repeat  that  it  ought  to  be  the  earnest  effort  of  every  member 
of  the  Officers’  Reserve  Corps,  quartermaster’s  section,  to  do 
his  level  best  to  give  the  best  that  is  in  him,  and  that  is  all 
we  can  or  will  ask  of  him,  is  to  give  the  best  that  is  in  him 
for  the  Government  for  the  welfare  and  efficiency  of  the  Quar¬ 
termaster  Corps,  and  if  you  give  it  to  the  Quartermaster  Corps 
you  are  giving  it  to  the  Government.  Do  that  and  you  will 
find  that  you  have  made  yourself  a  more  efficient  man  for  your 
work  in  private  life. 

I  want  to  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  your  kind  attention. 

o 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  062103350 


